The convention process: A vital role in party politics

The convention process: A vital role in party politics

The U.S. Constitution does not specify the process for how political parties are to nominate their candidate for President, so for most of us, this was not part of a Civics lesson in high school.

However, with the Republican and Democratic National Conventions being held this month, many are wondering how the delegates are selected and what it takes to be part of that process.

A state's primary election or caucus is usually an indirect election: instead of voters directly selecting a particular person running for President, they determine the number of delegates each party's national convention will receive from their respective state. These delegates then in turn select their party's presidential nominee.

Out of the 2,740 delegates for the Republican National Convention, 40 were from Arkansas.

The party held a special district convention in April of this year to select 3 delegates from each congressional district. An additional three delegates are party leaders or elected officials. Teb were voted at large and there were 15 bonus candidates awarded to the Arkansas Republican party this year.

Of the 4,763 delegates at the Democratic National Convention, 37 were from Arkansas. Five of those delegates were unpledged Party Leader/Elected Officials (PLEO), who are party leaders or elected officials. The remaining 32 were elected by the party in a statewide convention. Due to the election results from our state, 22 delegates were pledged for Hillary Clinton and 10 delegates were pledged for Bernie Sanders.

Political party conventions have changed significantly over the years. We now know weeks before the convention who the likely nominee will be.

However, these conventions still play a valuable role in shaping our country.

Conventions can serve as an “opening bell” to voters that now is the time to start studying the candidate and the issues. While many have their minds made up by now, conventions are increasingly important to the undecided and independent voters.

Being a delegate to these conventions is a great honor. These men and women represent our state on the national stage. I want to congratulate and thank all of our delegates who have served in Cleveland and in Philadelphia over the last two weeks. Locally, Senator Keith Ingram was a delegate to the Democratic Convention and Bobbie Dodge was a delegate to the Republican Convention.

From State Representative Deborah Ferguson